GCC Foundation nears fundraising goal

GREENFIELD — The Greenfield Community College Foundation is hoping a surge of donations in its final campaign weekend will help it reach its $825,000 fundraising goal.

The annual campaign has, as of Thursday, collected just over $798,000. The campaign ends on Saturday, which this year falls on the same the day as GCC Commencement.

Foundation Executive Director Regina Curtis said that compared to last year, this year’s campaign has seen a 10 percent increase in the number of businesses making donations.

There has also been a 38 percent increase in the number of donors who make gifts of $1,000 or more, said Curtis.

“However, we are still lagging behind last year for total number of new donors to the campaign, so now is the time for someone who has never made a gift to consider doing so,” she said.

And those gifts will go three times as far, said Curtis. Anonymous donors have agreed to match two times over any first-time donations. The anonymous donors are also doing a straight match of any gifts that are 10 percent higher than a donor’s gift last year. The matching gifts will cap at $100,000.

President Robert Pura said he’s yet to find any other college work harder than GCC to serve its community. He also hasn’t found any community that cares more for its college than people in Franklin County and the Pioneer Valley.

“We are almost there,” he said.

Last year’s drive brought in $954,330, although about $150,000 of that came from two major gifts made at the very end of the campaign.

While the large majority of donations come from within Franklin County, the campaign has aimed at attracting donors from other areas where GCC students live.

About 25 percent of the school’s students live in Hampshire County, but donors there have historically contributed about 8 percent of the campaign’s total donations, said Curtis. And the area surrounding Brattleboro, Vt., where about 10 percent of GCC students live, accounts for an even smaller slice of the pie, she said.

Last year, the foundation gave out nearly $282,000 in annual scholarships. It also provided $152,000 in GCC programs and $130,000 in general college support, among other allocations.